A Week In Tunisia
by skycloud86
Summary: 2 months after Day Two, and Nina is about to get a visit in North Africa.
1. 1 Week Before

_**A/N – Takes place around 2 months after Day Two. All characters except for my OCs are property of Fox. The US airbase in Tunisia is fictional, and the town of Nefta in south western Tunisia is real**_.

Alex saw the look on Jack's face, and he could tell immediately that Jack would be stubborn all week.

'I can't tell you where she is, Jack. I don't even know myself until I get there," Alex spoke as he and Jack walked into the main bullpen of CTU. With Division's help, Alex had been able to sort out a visit to where Nina was now living in exile after her presidential pardon. They had made it quite clear to him that Jack was not to know of the visit, but Jack has been told some days later by a friend of his who worked at Division. Alex mainly suspected Alberta Green to be the leak, but had decided that dwelling on it would be pointless. Enough people inside CTU hated Nina enough to leak the information to Jack anyway, which was why Nina's exact location was known only to a few people.

"Why do you even want to visit her anyway, Alex?," Jack enquired. Even if Nina was his sister, Alex had considered her pretty much dead and forgotten about since her arrest.

"Because I want to know why, Jack. Why she got involved with terrorists, why she betrayed her friends, her country, me. Why she had to kill Jamey and Teri," Alex replied as he sat down at his station. A few minutes passed, and he realised that Jack was still standing around near him, and wondered what he could say to placate Jack. It wasn't as if Jack could just come along, and Alex wouldn't be able to record anything, as all electronic equipment was banned for nob-military personnel on the base in Nefta, in south western Tunisia.

"Nothing will convince Nina to talk unless it is in her interests, Alex," Jack replied, remembering the day of the nuke. His plan to terrify Nina into compliance had almost backfired when she had managed to take him hostage. Deciding not to dwell on the matter any more, Jack turned and was about to walk to his office, when he sopped and looked around at Alex once more.

"Just don't expect anything, Alex," Jack advised, and Alex nodded. He wasn't deluded, he knew that the trip was almost certainly going to be a waste of time and effort, but he didn't want to just ignore the possibility.

Later that day, as Alex drove out of CTU, his mind returned to Nina. He would be in Tunisia for a week, spending as much time as he liked with Nina. Her life was restricted, but as long as she obeyed the law and the numerous conditions of her pardon, she was basically allowed to do anything she wanted. Each week her house would be searched for anything she wasn't expected to have, and the list was huge – weapons and cell phones were obviously forbidden, along with other items such as drugs, excess amounts of money, electronic equipment (although she was allowed a small television and a radio) and almost anything that she could use as a weapon or to escape. If she was found to have any such contraband,. Her life would get even more restricted, until she ended up in house arrest and if she dared break any of the conditions of her pardon, she would be on the first plane back to Los Angeles and a cell in a maximum security prison to await execution.

Jack was nursing a beer as he sat in a bar close to CTU. Drinking alone, his mind was stuck on Nina, which was the reason why he had cancelled a date with Kate, which he had hated doing. He had met her in extreme circumstances, and had become attracted to her almost immediately. They had had a few casual dates, nothing serious, so it wasn't like Kate was all that bothered. A familiar voice broke him from his reverie and, as Kate sat down next to him, she smiled at the shock on his face.

"Tony said you might be here, Jack. Are you OK?," Kate asked. He had sounded preoccupied on the phone when he had called to cancel, and there was something in his voice that Kate had heard many times before from her father and sister – depression.

"I'm just thinking of bad memories, that's all," Jack replied, before taking a swig of his drink.

"Can you tell me? Sometimes it helps if you talk about these memories," Kate asked. She was as attracted to him as he was to her, and she knew that he was a complex person with a lot of scars both physically and mentally. Jack considered her question for a moment, then began to tell her the story of Nina Myers.

Alex was sat on his bed, holding the documents that Division had given him in regards to the trip. He had had to sign a load of papers, promising not to tell people of Nina's whereabouts, promising not to help Nina escape in any way, promising not to pass on anything from any of Nina's former terrorist colleagues, which Alex thought was a bit over the top, as he wasn't in contact with any terrorists. Lying down, he remembered the last time he had been in the same room as his sister. It had been on the day of the nuke, when she was in custody before her transportation to North Africa. Unlike the previous meeting, in which she had been cold, emotionless and unresponsive, she had been somewhat talkative that time, and Alex almost recognised his sister. The meeting then had only lasted a few minutes, and Alex had not asked Nina any questions, but Alex hoped that she would be the same way again in Tunisia.

Jack and Kate were now slightly tipsy, and the conversation had gone from Nina to more lighter topics. Enjoying himself, Jack savoured this rare feeling of happiness, and Nina was almost forgotten.


	2. Tuesday Before

_**A few hours later...**_

Alex had fallen asleep, but the slumber didn't last long as bangs echoed up to his bedroom from the front door. Dressed only in shorts and a t-shirt, he rubbed his eyes before groaning as he looked at the clock, which told him that it was just after 1am. As he walked down the stairs, he could hear Jack's drunken shouts, and his tiredness was replaced by annoyance, as he had a good idea what Jack's reason to visit was.

"What is it, Jack?," Alex asked as he opened the door and saw Jack, half-empty beer bottle in hand.

"Tell me where she is, Alex, go on!," Jack asked, his words slurred. He had taken Kate home some hours ago, but had continued to drink and had eventually decided to visit Alex.

"Even if I actually knew where she was for sure, I certainly won't tell you when you're in this state," Alex replied. Angrily, Jack lifted up the bottle as if to threaten Alex with it, but Alex wasn't impressed.

"Go home, Jack. Make sure you drink some water as well, I don't think we need an hungover Jack at CTU tomorrow," Alex told him, and began to shut the door. Jack stared at the door before forcing it back open and rushing into the house. Alex, turning back around as he realised what had happened, tried to grab the bottle, but Jack was able to smash it over his head, knocking Alex out unconscious.

It was already light outside when Alex came to, and he rubbed his head where the bottle had hit him. Luckily, no blood had been spilt, and the bottle itself hadn't broken, as Alex discovered when he saw the bottle lying close to the door. Remembering what had happened, he slowly stood up before sitting down on the couch. Noticing his phone on the nearby coffee table, he picked it up and dialled a number.

"Hello?," Jack spoke as he answered the phone. He was on his way to CTU, nursing a severe hangover.

"Jack, you left your bottle here," Alex replied. Jack was confused at first, but his eyes widened as he remembered exactly what he had done whilst drunk.

"I'm so sorry about that, Alex. Are you OK?," Jack spoke, worried. He considered turning around and heading for Alex's house, but Alex sounded fine to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Jack, but what the hell were you doing, Jack? You don't normally drink so much," Alex asked. Jack was not a big drinker, and although Alex wasn't surprised at Jack's late night visit, he was surprised to see Jack drunk, especially when he had work the next day.

"I drank to get Nina out of my mind, Alex, that's all," Jack replied, seemingly unaware of the irony.

"Really, Jack? Yet the whole reason of your visit seems to have been to find out where she was. Anyway, I got to get ready for work. We'll talk about it later," Alex replied, before hanging up.

As Alex walked into CTU, Jack watched as he headed for his workstation. He now remembered the incident last night with clarity and he wondered why he had drunk to forget about Nina, yet when drunk he had gone to Alex's house and demanded to know her whereabouts. Confused, he resolved not to use alcohol to help wipe his mind clean of Nina, but a small part of him knew that little else got her out of there. A knock on his office door took his mind off the problem, and he gestured to Tony to come in. As Tony approached Jack's desk, he could tell that Jack was not feeling too good.

"You OK, Jack? You look awful, shouldn't you be at home getting some rest?," Tony enquired as he placed a file onto the desk. Jack looked at him, considering his answer.

"No, I have too much work to do today. Besides, I look worse than I feel," Jack replied, somewhat truthfully.

"Anyway, this file has the candidates for the internships, Jack. I thought you should know, Kim's applying for the level one analyst job," Tony told him, expecting Jack not to know, but Jack nodded as if he did.

"Yeah, I asked her to, Tony. I know CTU can be a dangerous place at times, but I think she's capable. Plus, this way I know she's safe," Jack said as he looked through the file. There were only a few applicants for the jobs available, and Jack knew that he couldn't just give Kim the job out of nepotism, but he was going to make sure she was at least one of the final candidates.

As Tony left the room, Jack's attention went back to Alex. Looking down at the bullpen, he noticed that Alex wasn't at his workstation. Taking a guess where he might be, Jack headed for the men's toilets. His guess correct, he saw Alex coming out of the toilets as he approached.

"I'm sorry again about last night, Alex," Jack said as the two men stood in the corridor.

"It's OK, Jack. There's no damage done. I can't tell you where she is, Jack, and even if I could, I don't think I would want to tell you," Alex replied.

"Why?," Jack asked, although he could guess.

"There's a lot of reasons why, Jack. What about Kim? What about getting on with your life? She isn't free, Jack. She might not be in jail, but she's no threat to anyone at the moment. If she managed to escape, then you know CTU would do everything possible to find her, but you need to move on, Jack," Alex replied, before walking off back to the bullpen.

Another day had passed, and Alex was at home relaxing when the phone started to ring. Sighing as he picked it up, he audibly groaned as he heard Tony informing him of Jack's latest antics.

Walking into the holding room after making his way back to CTU, Alex looked at Jack with some annoyance. Jack had been caught trying to hack into Alex's station, although he had been utterly unsuccessful.

"I don't know myself until the plane lands there, Jack, so I don't know what you thought you were going to find in my computer," Alex told him.

"What about afterwards, when you come back? You going to tell me then?," Jack replied, and Alex sighed with exasperation. He hadn't thought of what Jack would be like afterwards, and thought up a quick answer.

"They're moving her as soon as I leave, Jack, and it's not going to be a matter of a few miles. They'll be moving her to a totally different country," Alex replied, and he saw the anger rise in Jack's face.

"Don't lie to me, Alex!," Jack shouted angrily, standing up. Making his way around the table, he tried the door but found it locked. He had assumed they would leave it unlocked.

"I'm not lying, Jack," Alex replied, although he wasn't actually sure if what he had said was true or not. He assumed that they would move her, in case Jack ever found out her location. Jack growled before lunging at Alex, who managed to punch him, which sent Jack falling to the floor.

"Jack, go home and make sure you don't drink. I've sorted it out with Tony and you're not in any trouble. At the moment, anyway," Alex told him as he helped Jack up.


	3. Wednesday Before

The night had passed without incident and, as Alex walked into CTU, he expected Jack to appear at any moment, but he was nowhere to be seen. Taking this to be a good sign, he walked over to his workstation. For the next few hours, it was a normal morning, but he was growing concerned. Deciding to ask Tony, he wondered where Jack was.

"Tony? Have you seen Jack today?," Alex enquired as he entered the SAIC's office.

"I've told him not to come in for a few days, to have a break from CTU," Tony replied. Jack had welcomed the break, but Tony knew that part of Jack didn't and that simply stopping Jack from entering CTU would not keep his mind off of Nina.

"Alright, that's fine," Alex replied, before heading for the door. As he did, he noticed Kim entering CTU.

"What's Kim doing here?," he asked. Tony looked out of the window of the office, and saw Kim heading towards them.

"She's applying for a job, level one analyst," Tony replied, as Kim came to the door.

Jack had taken the opportunity to have a lie in, and he woke up feeling refreshed in the middle of the day. Yawning, he automatically began getting ready to go to work, before realising that he was suspended. It wasn't an official suspended, but he considered the break to be a suspension. Resisting the urge to go to CTU, he sat at the edge of his bed and wondered what he was going to do with all the free time he had. Picking up the phone, he dialled Kate's number.

The afternoon had been moving slowly until there was a sudden burst of activity. An handcuffed man was being led through to the holding rooms, his hazel eyes staring straight forward as his Southern accented voice muttered at the guards leading him. Deciding to see what this man had done, Alex walked into the adjacent monitoring room, from where he could see into the holding room. Tony was talking to the man, who was not at all concerned with what Tony had to say.

"You're telling me that you've got nothing to do with Marie Warner?," Tony asked the man, who showed no reaction. Alex remembered Marie well – she was Kate's sister and one of the main plotters to blow up a nuke over Los Angeles. At first, she had seemed like a distraught young woman upset over the disruption to her wedding, but then she had turned into some murderous terrorist hell bent on killing as many people as possible.

"I want a deal first, then I'll talk. It's in Kate Warner's interests," the man replied, and Alex turned on the intercom, which would send a message to Tony via an earphone. Telling Tony he was going to check out Kate's house, he moved quickly towards the garage. Fishing out his phone, he dialled Jack's number. It went straight to voice mail. As he didn't know Kate's number, he called Chloe's extension. Chloe O'Brian was a computer genius who had recently joined CTU, and Alex likened her to Jamie Farrell.

"Chloe, it's Alex. Can you find out if Kate Warner's cell phone is switched on? See if Jack's phone is anywhere near hers as well," Alex told her, and he soon got a reply.

"They're both at the same place, Alex. 648 South Broadway," Chloe replied. Thanking her, Alex hung up, before getting into his car. Speeding off, he turned on the GPS system. Although he had lived in Los Angeles for a couple of years, there were still parts of the city that were alien to him.

Eventually, he got to the destination and pulled up outside the café. Spotting Kate and Jack almost immediately, he honked the horn to get their attention. Jack came up to the car.

"What's the matter?," Jack asked. He had been enjoying the warm afternoon with Kate, and the part of him that wasn't annoyed by this distraction, was curious as to what the situation was.

"CTU just brought in a man who might have connections to Marie. Kate's life might be in danger, so I have to get you both to CTU," Alex explained. Although he knew that Tony wouldn't be happy with Jack being back at CTU, he decided that now was not the best time to separate the pair.

As they began the journey to CTU, Jack noticed that a black car seemed to be following them. He thought nothing of it until they got to a fairly quiet road, when the car rammed them from behind. Noticing that the two men inside had guns, Jack told Kate to stay down. As Alex and Jack got out of the car, so did the two men. The following gunfight that broke out was quick, and left the two assailants dead on the road.

"We're going to need CTU to identify these men," Jack said as he retrieved the firearms from near the two dead bodies.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence, with Jack and Kate both watching out for any other would be attackers.

Safely back at CTU, Kate, Jack and Alex were in the monitoring room, and Kate recognised the redheaded man who sat in the holding room.

"That's James Logan, Marie's friend from college. He converted to Islam when he was a teenager, but he got involved with a fundamentalist group," she explained.


	4. Monday

**9.30am, Nefta US Air Force Base, Nefta, Tunisia - Monday**

As the plane landed on the dusty runway of the air force base, Alex looked out of the window, and saw what was to be his home for the next week. A base in the desert, with a small town that could be seen on the horizon, which Alex assumed was Nefta. Getting off the plane, the intense summer heat that the Sahara experienced hit him, and he was glad for the pair of sunglasses he had put on minutes before.

"Agent Myers?," a woman enquired as Alex approached her. She looked a bit like Chloe, but her hair was blonde and she was probably a few years older and a few inches taller than Chloe. Her voice hinted at Midwestern roots.

"Yeah, you're Erin, right?," Alex replied as they shook hands. Gesturing towards a car, Alex and Erin got inside, and promptly made sure the windows were as wound down as possible.

"We're heading to the Visitor's Hotel, first, Agent, where you can rest for a few hours. After that, you'll be taken to Ms Myer's home, a few miles away from here. There are a few rules that I'll explain to you," Erin explained as the car sped down a dry road, sending clouds of dust up high into the air behind the car, which has it's windscreen wipers frantically trying to wipe the sand off of the front window. The car was being driven by a young soldier in uniform, who appeared to be quite used to driving in what was pretty much a sandstorm.

**10.00am, NUSAFB**

Nina had been up for some hours, and as she took a sip of what was apparently coffee - she was given the same food and drink as everyone else on the base, and it wasn't exactly gourmet - she glanced out of the window as a soldier passed by. She was left alone most of the time, which she preferred, and she was careful not to risk any of her privileges. Living in the base was not ideal, and Nina certainly had no wish to stay any longer than she needed to. The only problem was finding a way out, which was almost impossible. She had almost no contact with the outside world, and the base was one of the most heavily guarded of the US air force bases outside of the continental US.

A knock on the door came out of nowhere, and Nina sarcastically wondered who it was. Opening the door, the soldier marched in and took one look at Nina, before pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket. He - Oriol, an Hispanic soldier in his early thirties originally from New York - was one of the soldiers given the task of keeping an eye on Nina. Although he had never talked to her, and knew little about her, he had a soft spot for her, and he knew he had to be careful not to let that soft spot make him go easy on her.

"A list of rules for this week, Ms Myers," Oriol explained, and Nina nodded as she took the communique. She had been aware of the visit for a few days, and was unsure what to think of the arrangement. Wondering why Alex wanted to visit her, she had agreed to the visit, even though she knew that it would mean a week of extra surveillance and even stricter rules. Thanking Oriol, before closing the door as he left, she took a look at the note and sighed. This was not how her life was meant to be spent, and part of her almost wanted to be back in prison, where the rules were not quite as strict. Reminding herself that there were still many people who were interested in her services and that those people could very well rescue her from the base, a small smile crept onto her face. She had gotten out of trouble before, and she knew she would do so again.

**11.30am, NUSAFB**

Refreshed, Alex was in the car with Erin once more as they headed towards Nina's house. Erin was explaining the rules and restrictions to him, and Alex couldn't help but think how satisfied Jack would be if he knew just how little control Nina had over her own life.

Pulling up to the house, Alex examined the building. It was a wooden cottage, with a couple of windows on each side. The outside was painted white, the door was a dull grey and the window frames were red. Inside, Alex had been told, there was a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and a living room all decorated in spartan fashion.

"Agent Myers, there'll be a guard posted outside during your visit. Take as long as you wish, and when you're finished, the soldier will take you back to your hotel," Erin informed him. As the car drove off, Alex turned towards the house. For the first time in so long, he was going to meet his sister. Remembering the last meeting, when Alex had been allowed to see her before she was flown to Tunisia on the day of the nuke, he hoped that Nina would be in a talkative mood. Deciding to knock on the door rather than enter immediately, he waited for the door to be opened. He wasn't expecting an emotional response from Nina, but was surprised when she smiled broadly at him. Her hair was longer now, which made her face look less angular, less gaunt. Her skin was as pale as ever, which told Alex that she spent very little time outside.

"Hello, Nina," Alex spoke as he studied the inside of the house. The furniture was old, the walls were without either paint or wallpaper, and the carpet was almost non-existent.

"How's Jack taking this visit?," Nina asked. Alex wasn't surprised at the interest in Jack, and promised himself that Jack would not find out where Nina was.

"Alcohol and hacking into computers," Alex replied, and the smirk on Nina's face made him smile. He missed the old Nina, the Nina who had been his sister and the one family member he had had left.

"I think they're trying to break me by making me live in this dump," Nina commented as she drank from a bottle of water. Placing the bottle back onto the pile of wood that was used as a coffee table, she looked around the living room. No matter how well behaved she was, her living quarters were never going to be any better than this, at least not until she was moved elsewhere. That move was probably years away, and Nina had slowly grown used to the place.

"What's CTU like these days?," Nina enquired. Alex wondered what exactly she wanted to hear, and what exactly he was allowed to tell her.

"Tony's still SAIC, he's married now to Michelle, who you met the last time you were in CTU. Jack's head of Field Ops and apart from that nothing much has changed," Alex replied, and as he did so he watched Nina's face for any reactions, and saw none. He knew that Nina had no interest in small talk, and so he decided to change the subject.

"Do you regret it?," Alex asked, and Nina's eyes widened as he spoke. She knew what he was talking about, but had not expected him to ask about it.

"I suppose so, but I don't dwell on past mistakes or past failures, Alex," Nina replied. She didn't like to think about the past. Partly because she had fucked up so badly with the Drazen mission, and partly because of her conflicting emotions towards Jack. She knew that she was still attracted to him on some level, still in love with him, and she knew that it had to be controlled. There was no way she and Jack would ever be together in that way, not after Teri's murder and certainly not after the events of that last day she spent on American soil.

**4.00am (Los Angeles time), Jack's house **

Jack woke suddenly, before sitting up in bed. Gazing with tired eyes at the clock, he slowly worked out that it was midday in Tunisia. Laughing bitterly to himself as he realised that Nina was already on his mind, he decided not to attempt to go back to sleep and made his way downstairs. Walking past the front door, he noticed a letter with no stamp on that simply said 'Jack' on the front. Picking it up before opening the envelope, he pulled out the paper inside and began to read it.

"_Jack,_

_I don't know when you'll read this, but most likely it'll be tomorrow morning, by which time I'll be in Tunisia. I know you still think of Nina every day, almost as much as you think of Teri every day, but just for this week can you please take her out of your mind? She's not going anywhere, Jack, and you shouldn't let her play with your mind in the way you let her. I'll be back by the weekend, and I promise you that I'll tell you everything she says to me, but I can't promise that she will give me anything useful._

_- Alex_"

As he finished reading the letter, he crumpled it into a ball and threw it into the kitchen bin. He was going to take Alex's advice and not think about Nina.


	5. Tuesday

**12.00pm, NUSAFB - Tuesday**

Alex and Nina were once more together in her house, and today's conversation had been marked by emotional outbursts, one of which had sent the guard stood outside rushing in to check on the two siblings.

"I have no interest in telling you a lot of things, Alex. I think you should accept that," Nina spoke.

"I don't understand why you needed to kill Jamey or Teri, Nina!," Alex asked her, his voice loud and angry. He knew that it was pointless trying to appeal to Nina's emotional side, as such a part of her mostly didn't exist anymore, but still he continued.

"Alex, what I did in the past is not worth talking about now," Nina replied, her mind already working out a good change of subject. She considered bringing something up from their childhood, which was always a good source of conversation. They had been very close in their younger years.

"Then why did you want me to visit you, Nina? You could have denied the visit request easily, and I would have understood. I mean, why would I come here just to make small talk?," Alex asked her, and he realised just how much he was acting just like Jack had been the week before. Taking a swig of water, he waited for an answer, but the resulting moments of silence made him realise that the whole trip was most likely a waste of his time and CTU resources. Standing up and making his way to the door, he turned to face her.

"I'll probably head back to the States later tonight, Nina," Alex spoke, and as he preferred not to spend any more time with Nina, he opened the door quickly and was almost out, when she asked him to wait. Curious, Alex walked back into the house.

"What is it, Nina?," Alex enquired, his voice now calmer but irritated. He looked at her face and thought for a moment that he saw emotion.

"They approached me when I was in college, Alex," Nina spoke, before taking a swig of water. She wasn't giving away this information easily, and although telling Alex wouldn't cause her any harm, she had not wanted to let CTU know about her descent into terrorism.

"They? Your employers?," Alex replied. The investigation that had followed Nina's arrest had not been able to seek out Nina's employers, although there were many tenuous links to Germany and the Balkan states. Although they knew that Nina was an American citizen and had been born and bred in the country, the investigation had concluded that her employees were a multinational terror group of unknown ideology. Nina herself was considered to be a mercenary, just an hired gun that would kill for the right price and sell her services to the highest bidder.

"Yeah. The men who met me, they were European, German I think. They said that they had been watching me and that I would be a great asset to their organisation," Nina explained.

"And you went along with them? Why?," Alex asked, surprised to hear this from Nina. He had often wondered what had turned Nina, and now he was being told, he wasn't sure if it was overwhelming or underwhelming.

"Because they offered me something exciting in life, Alex. By that point I was growing disillusioned with my chosen path in life. I wanted to feel alive," Nina responded, wondering just how much she could afford to tell him. Wondering just how much of this information would filter through to Jack, she decided to bring him into her moment of honesty.

"When I started working at CTU, and met Jack, he was the first person I met who made me want to abandon my terrorist career. I was delighted when they asked me to get close to him, and I probably got far closer to him than they had expected. The affair was more than just a sham, even if it was mostly that," Nina continued. Although she knew that the next time she met Jack that there was an high chance of one of them dying at the hands of the other, the part of her that still loved him hoped for such a meeting.

"What about Tony?," Alex asked. Tony was below Nina in the CTULA ranks, and would not have been a good source of information as Nina would already know everything he did.

"That was just to make it look like I was over Jack, and it had even less love involved from me. One thing I noticed was that Tony seem to be truly in love with me," Nina replied. She had last seen Tony that night when she was arrested, as she stared at him with defiant eyes over her car before she was led away to the holding room, and she had seen the look in his eyes. Whilst Jack had seemed confused and unable to believe what had happened, Tony seem far more betrayed, heartbroken. She hadn't meant to hurt him, but Nina knew that she couldn't dwell on Tony's feelings. The sneer she had given him that night was meant to say that their relationship wasn't worth mourning, that he should move on with his life.

"Did you know about the Drazen mission before that day?," Alex asked. He assumed she did, but hoped that she had had no choice but to accept the mission.

"Yes, although things didn't exactly go to plan," Nina replied. She had been informed of the plan two months before, and had been counting down the days to the Californian presidential primary nervously. She had been confident that the plan would succeed, but she was nervous because it would be her first real mission after being activated. All the training and planning and preparation was meant to make the mission go smoothly, but it had been a disaster from the start. Not only did she nearly get killed by Jack of all people, Teri found out about her affair, she almost got found out just hours into the day and then the big fuck up late that night, when she had to tell Jack that Kim's body had been found floating in the harbour. There had been the choice of not calling Jack, but she knew that if she didn't, the Drazens might be captured and thus willing to throw her to the lions as part of a plea bargain.

"What about the bomb, Nina? Did you know what they were planning when you sold them the blueprints?," Alex asked. She knew that he had been caught up in the blast, and she had felt guilty for putting her brother in danger, but she also knew that she couldn't help it if her actions indirectly harmed him.

"I didn't know about the bomb, Alex. I had an idea of what they were planning, sure, but I didn't know," Nina replied.


	6. Wednesday

**1.30pm, NUSAFB – Wednesday**

For the last half an hour, the meeting had been silent. The conversation had been mundane, just small talk about what Nina did most of the time in the base, and now the conversation had inevitably run dry. Nina, remembering that she had yesterday considered bringing up something from their childhood, decided to do exactly that.

"Remember when we were little, and during the summer we would go to that cabin on the shore of Lake Michigan?," Nina asked, much to Alex's surprise. He had totally forgotten about the numerous holidays to that place, but now memories were flooding back, and Alex couldn't help but feel sad. The last time they had been was in the early 1990s, the year that their father died in a car crash in Chicago. After he had died, their mother couldn't bear to think about the cabin, and holidays were instead spent in Boston with relatives on their father's side.

"Yeah, I do. You used to love the lake, Nina. You would probably have swum all day if Mom and Dad had let you," Alex replied. Nina had been a sporty girl, and even though she was always one of the shorter kids, would not let that stop her from taking part in sports.

"I don't think she would recognise me nowadays," Nina spoke, and it took Alex a minute to realise that she meant her younger self. He remembered the sister he had once loved, but now felt both love and hate at the same time in some conflicted manner.

"To be honest, I don't think he would recognise you, either," Alex replied.

**6:00am (2pm in Nefta), Los Angeles**

Jack was up early and was planning to go into CTU early. He had a new lead on James Logan, and he was damned sure that noone was going to harm Kate. Checking the time, he let his mind think of Nina again, but he decided not to dwell on her and ignored the very idea of her.

**2.15pm NUSAFB**

Nina's house was by now a time capsule, and the conversation was as if it were 1989 again. Alex and Nina were laughing and joking and for those precious moments, life didn't revolve around terrorism or death, but around happy memories and family. The only thing that seemed odd was that Nina seemed to be checking her watch every so often, but Alex assumed she was just hoping that the meeting wouldn't end too soon.

**6.30am (2.30pm Nefta), Los Angeles**

As Jack wandered into CTU, it was already a hub of activity, which wasn't unusual for a weekday morning. Walking past Alex's station, he wondered how it was going in Tunisia, as well as wondering what Nina was telling Alex. He was not hoping too much for anything significant, but he did hope that Alex could at least get something from her. Climbing the stairs to the Head of Field Ops office, he went through the days tasks, and he was looking forward to finally getting rid of the threat that had been worrying Kate for nearly a week.

**3:00pm NUSAFB**

Both Alex and Nina noticed that the background noise from outside had significantly dropped, which was highly unusual for a military base in the middle of the afternoon. Walking over to the window, Alex looked around, but saw noone. He was about o go back to his seat, when he noticed the dead soldier on the floor. Shocked, he ran outside to where the body was, and shouted to Nina to call for help using the outgoing calls only telephone that was available in her house. When she didn't reply, he decided to go to the doorway to ask her, but he saw no sign of her. He was about to walk inside, when all of a sudden a blast knocked him out. The last sensation he felt was being forced back by the explosion. His last thought was of Nina.

**NUSAFB, 7:00pm**

Alex sat up quickly, and realised that he had been standing up. Looking around with hazy eyesight, he saw that he was in a hospital, probably still on the base. Inspecting his arms, he saw cuts and bruises, probably from when he had been thrown by the force of the blast. Feeling his face, it felt tender and stung in certain parts.

"Agent Myers?," a familiar female voice spoke to him. Turning to see her, he recognised Erin.

"What happened?," Alex asked. He knew that some sort of explosion has happened, but that was the extent of his knowledge. He saw the concern in Erin's eyes, and wondered what the matter was.

"There was a bomb, Alex. It destroyed the house," Erin replied, and Alex wondered what she meant for a moment, until he remembered. He remembered the conversation, he remembered the house. He remembered Nina.

"What happened to Nina?," Alex asked, his voice worried. His love for her had suddenly risen once more, and now he was scared that he had lost her.

"We don't know, we haven't found her dead or alive, Alex," Erin spoke, and Alex sank back down onto the bed.

"Can you do one thing for me, please? Don't tell Jack or anyone at CTU about Nina. Say that she's in custody or something, please! It'll destroy him if he finds out!," Alex spoke, his voice full of worry. Erin, who knew a lot about the situation, was only too happy to oblige.

"I promise, Alex," she replied, taking his hand and squeezing it gently. Saying goodbye, she left the room and left Alex by himself. Staring at the murky ceiling, he couldn't help but let the tears fall silently.


	7. Friday

**9.30am, LAX Airport – Friday**

As the milder but still blistering Californian sun beamed down on Alex as he headed towards a cab, he wondered if Erin had managed to keep the news of Nina's escape from CTU. He had spent Wednesday and much of Thursday in the base hospital, and had only been able to fly back home late on Thursday. Deciding to go straight home rather than to CTU, he hoped that Jack would not be too eager for the information he craved, and he assumed that Jack would know of his early return from Tunisia.

**9.40am, CTULA**

Jack was in his office, working through a massive workload that came with being the Head of Field Operations. He didn't expect Alex to be rushing back to CTU after the bomb, and the only thing remotely related to Alex's visit that he had concerned himself with during the morning was checking which flight Alex was on. Looking down at the bullpen, he noticed Kim hard at work, and smiled proudly. He had wanted her to take a job at CTU so that her safety would be guaranteed, although at first she had dismissed the idea, which didn't surprise him as her mother was murdered in the building. However, he had managed to convince her that CTU was much safer than it had once been, although he knew that it was mostly bullshit. Sure, CTU was safer, but it was never a truly safe place, and Jack had learnt the hard way that noone could be trusted fully, no matter how well you thought you knew them.

**9.45am, a cab on a road in Los Angeles**

Alex was deep in thought as the cab, yellow like a New York taxi, made its way through the mid-morning LA traffic. He was thinking about the bomb, and couldn't decide whether to believe that Nina was involved or not, if she had known of the bomb in advance. He assumed that the dead soldier that he had found outside of the bungalow was killed in order to stop him from stopping, or at least identifying, the people who planted the bomb, but he also thought that perhaps Nina had asked them to kill the soldier, so that Alex would be out of the house before the bomb went off, allowing Nina precious seconds in which she could slip silently out of the back door. He knew that such a plan was convoluted and would have required quite a bit of forethought, but he also knew that it sounded very much like a plan cooked up by the mysterious brain of Nina.

**3.50pm (9.50am LA time), Berlin, Germany**

Nina snaked her way though the oblivious crowd, aiming for the building in which her terrorist career was ready and waiting for her to start again. Although she was apprehensive about returning to a life of crime, she much preferred it to the life of enforced boredom on the dusty Saharan base. She had managed to escape from the bomb without injury, and had been keen to find out if Alex was OK afterwards, although the first thing she had to do was to get the hell out of Tunisia. It had been hours later as the speedboat crossed over to Italy that she had been given news of Alex, and she was relieved that her escape plan had not seriously injured, or even killed him. She had planned it to happen during his visit because she knew he would want to keep it a secret from CTU, and as far as she knew, he could be relied upon to ensure that Jack would continue to live on blissfully unaware that she had broken her pardon. Reaching the door of the little house where the meeting was to take place, she paused and took a deep breath. Clasping the door handle gently, knowing that as soon as she walked inside that she would not be able to turn away from the life of terrorism the meeting offered, she pushed it down. Opening the door slowly, she poked her head inside, before the rest of her followed.

**10.00am, Alex's house, Los Angeles**

Picking up the small pile of mail that rested behind his front door, Alex looked through the pile as he walked into the living room. Chucking them onto the table, he jumped as he noticed the person sat on the couch looking straight at him.

"What are you doing here?," Alex asked, surprised.

**10.15am, CTULA**

Tony had been at CTU for hours, and was ready to take a break and grab something to eat. He had been working on the massive load of paperwork that was required of a Special Agent in Charge of CTU, which was an hard enough job for the usually well-experienced agents who gained the position, but Tony was younger than even Jack was when he had first become SAIC, and he was sure that it was only his relationship with Michelle that truly kept him sane.

**4.30pm (10.30am LA) Berlin, Germany**

Nina's meeting had gone well and, as she walked back into the sea of pedestrians, she was glad to have something exciting in her life once more. They had not given her anything to do just yet, but had given her a cell phone, a gun and new fake documents, which entitled one Sarah Berkeley to travel the world. Putting a pair of sunglasses on, she headed back to the hotel where she was staying. She had been asked to remain in Berlin for the time being, and she knew that it could be weeks before they had anything for her.

**10.40am, Alex's house, Los Angeles**

Sitting down next to his surprise visitor, Alex tried to work out how they managed to get into the house. Noticing the pensive look on his face, his visitor explained.

"You gave me a spare key the last time you were in Chicago, remember?," Sarah Henderson, an old friend of his who worked at CTU Chicago, spoke.

"Well, it's nice to see you, but why are you here?," Alex asked. It was indeed a nice surprise to see Sarah, who he hadn't seen for months.

"I heard about the bomb in Tunisia, and I've been here since last night. How are you doing?," Sarah replied. It had been the second explosion that Alex had been caught up in in a matter of months, and Sarah was sure that he was soon going to be a nervous wreck near any loud bangs.

"I'm fine, just a few cuts and bruises. Nina was hardly injured, herself. I think I was closer to the bomb, and that it wasn't very big. They don't know who planted it or why," Alex responded, careful to mention Nina. If Sarah had been given the same information as Jack in regards to Nina, he wanted her to believe it.

"Have you been to CTU yet?," Sarah asked. She knew that Jack was waiting for Alex's return, and that Jack knew of Alex's early journey back to LA.

"Not yet. I might go there later, but if I don't, Jack is certain to come here after work and visit," Alex replied. He didn't mind telling Jack about anything that he wanted to know, he just hoped that Jack believed that Nina was still in custody.

**5.00pm (11am LA), Hotel in Berlin, Germany**

Lying down on the bed, Nina closed her eyes, but wasn't intending to fall asleep. Instead, she was refreshing her memory, systematically recalling information that she had deemed useful. She had been doing this every day since before her arrest, and her technique was highly polished. Her mind was like a supercomputer, with huge stores of data saved within. This, and her ability to think multiple steps ahead, had been one of the most important weapons she had to keep herself alive.


	8. Friday Evening

**8.00pm, Alex's house, LA**

Quietly reading a book, Alex knew who it was at the door before he even got up out of his chair. Opening the door and letting Jack in, he knew that Jack had believed the story about Nina. After all, if he hadn't, he would surely have come much sooner.

"She didn't apologise for what she did, Jack," Alex said as they sat down in the living room. Jack wasn't surprised by this news.

"You seem to be OK after the bomb, Alex. She get injured?," Jack enquired, purposefully leaving out Nina's name. He didn't want to have to say it too many times, just in case any mirrors were around and some demon came out of it.

"Not really, as far as I know. They took her to a secure protective custody cell and I've haven't seen her since. I think they're planning to move her as soon as possible," Alex replied, trying to make the story sound naturally true.

"She told me how she got involved in terrorism. They approached her when she was in college, and she get herself caught in their poisonous little web," Alex continued.

**3.05am (8.05pm LA) Hotel room, Berlin, Germany**

Nina woke up quickly as the cell went off. She had been warned that she could get a call sometime in the early hours, and even though she was never a deep sleeper, she was still annoyed at the disturbance. Hoping that noone else heard the phone – not that it wasn't allowed in the hotel, but that it was being called in the middle of the night – she put it to her ear and mumbled in German.

"Nina, brauchen wir Sie nach Moskau zu fahren am Morgen," The woman on the other end of the phone instructed her, and she suddenly got a flashback to the night she killed Teri Bauer. Taking note of the order to go to Moscow in the morning, she tried to get that night out of her mind. It had already caused her enough pain.

"Ja, gut. Gute Nacht," Nina replied with a tired voice. Placing the phone back onto the bedside table and lying back down, she thought not of Teri, but of Moscow.

**8.30pm, Alex's house, Los Angeles**

The conversation had taken a lighter tone, and now Alex and Jack were making small talk. Alex was satisfied that Jack's appetite for information was sated, and he was glad that Jack had so readily accepted the story about Nina. He did wonder whether Jack was actually in denial or not, but decided that it was pointless to worry about it.

"I got to get home, Alex. See you on Monday?," Jack asked as he stood up. Nodding, Alex was looking forward to a normal week, where he wouldn't need to deal with a long-lost sister, or get caught up in bomb blasts.


End file.
